Intruders can tap into optical fiber transmission lines and steal information by bending the fiber to enable reading and interpreting the signal energy escaping from that fiber. While there are other methods of tapping information out of optical fibers, taps based on fiber bending are easy to implement, effective, and can be hard to detect. Tapping valuable data transmitted over the world wide optical fiber infrastructure is a threat to every major industry and government organization and, in particular, larger organizations utilizing multiple facilities. While these organizations may be able to secure optical fiber cables within their own facilities, they generally have much less control over the optical fiber cable links between those facilities.
The vulnerabilities of optical fibers to tapping and, in particular, tapping by bending, leaves many organizations susceptible to data theft. Such data theft could lead to leaking of confidential information, thereby causing harm to the entity transporting data over optical fibers. In the business context, leaking of information such as marketing strategies or developmental technologies may ultimately result in damage to profits. In the governmental context, leaking of information related to national security may endanger the lives of citizens. Existing solutions face challenges in detecting and preventing tapping of optical fibers.
It would be advantageous to provide a solution that would overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.